


Addiction

by Peppermint_Miraculous (Peppermint_Shamrock)



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Ambiguous/Open Ending, Damaged Miraculous, Gen, Kwami Swap, Kwami Swap Week, Major Character Injury, Peacock!Gabriel
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-08
Updated: 2019-02-08
Packaged: 2019-10-24 12:43:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,303
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17704481
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Peppermint_Shamrock/pseuds/Peppermint_Miraculous
Summary: He can't stop himself from using it, even as he knows the toll the damaged Miraculous takes on him.Written for Kwami Swap Week Day 6 - Peacock





	Addiction

**Author's Note:**

> Marked as Chose Not to Use Archive Warnings because it's currently ambiguous as to whether the Peacock Miraculous kills you or puts you in a coma or what. Didn't seem right to tag someone succumbing to the effects as Major Character Death but didn't seem right NOT to tag it, either.

“Tell any callers that I’m not to be disturbed for the next half-hour, Nathalie.”

Nathalie spun in her chair to face him, her usually stoic composure slipping just a hair, and Gabriel could read the protest in her face before she said a single word.

“Sir…”

“Just a half-hour, Nathalie. I will resume my normal schedule afterwards.”

He knew she could hear the warning in his tone, the unspoken reminder that she was his assistant. It wasn’t her place to judge his private affairs, and he knew she knew that.

“Very well, sir,” she said, assuming her usual manner. She turned back to her desk, apparently unconcerned. Gabriel knew better, of course, and as he strode away, he saw the subtle motions she made over her phone. No doubt informing the one person who _did_ have the place to judge his private affairs.

But if he was quick, he knew he could still get a decent session in before Emilie interrupted.

He’d considered, of course, simply not informing Nathalie (and by extension, Emilie) whenever he was taking a break for…inspiration. It would certainly make things easier for him. But he disliked the idea of sneaking around his own home like a common thief.

Gabriel pressed in the code to the hidden elevator, letting it take him up to his private study.

In truth, it wasn’t much of a study. Just a mostly bare attic, with just a standing desk, a sketchbook, and a large window that could be opened and closed to let the light in.

And, of course, the jewel.

The Miraculous.

Those fabled artifacts had long been the source of fascination for him and Emilie both. It was what had brought them together, a shared quest to uncover the powerful jewelry that was said to grant amazing powers to those that wielded them. They had labored together for many years, through marriage and even a child, searching fruitlessly for any scrap of information, any hint towards the current whereabouts of the Miraculouses, if they even still existed.

And then finally, _finally_ , they’d found one, in the ruins of a remote temple in Tibet. A discovery that had been both blessing and curse.

On the one hand, it was everything they could’ve hoped for. It held power, _real_ power. And Gabriel believed that it was only the first such finding. There couldn’t be just _one_ Miraculous buried in that old temple, he was certain of that, though the two subsequent trips left them empty-handed. But neither he nor Emilie was the type to give up, especially when the Miraculous they _had_ gotten their hands on was…

Well, it was damaged. And therein lay the curse.

Oh, it was usable, still. It held power, still. But the power was unstable, and it had nearly killed Gabriel when he had first commanded its transformation. If it hadn’t been for Emilie’s quick thinking, he would’ve died there in Tibet. She had ripped the pin from his clothes, sent word to Nathalie, and tended to him until she arrived.

He’d recovered, fortunately. But he could feel the toll that the Miraculous had taken on him.

But he could remember the feeling of power that it had granted him as well, and he hungered to taste it again, and again.

It was killing him. He knew that.

But the transformation, the _power_ …it was like nothing he’d ever experienced before. Nothing could match it, nothing else could give him such inspiration.

 _One more time_ , he thought, every time. _Just one more._

And so once again, he reached for that cursed pin, and affixed it to his jacket.

A small, glowing blue sphere came forth, slowly dissipating to reveal the unfortunate creature bound to the jewelry. Its form was as deep a blue as the light that had shone from the sphere, and it resembled a peacock, but it flickered and blurred, as though it wasn’t fully part of this realm. But even with this distortion, Gabriel could see that it wept. A few times, it had tried to speak, but the sound was too distant to make anything out, and it had given up in favor of pleading with its wide, crying eyes. It was clear that it didn’t want him using its broken power any more than Emilie or Nathalie did.

Gabriel ignored the tears, as he always did. There was nothing that could be done for the creature. But it could still do something for him.

“Transform me.”

Compelled by the command, the creature was pulled into the pin, and with it, its power swept over Gabriel. He stretched his arms wide, inviting it to wash over him. He felt it changing him, invigorating him. The world became brighter, his mind clearer, and the once drab room became a canvas.

The surge of power brought, as it always did, a burst of inspiration. It was refreshing after struggling with art block for so long. If only he could do this more often. If only…

But there was no time to waste. Filled with ideas, Gabriel set to work, and began sketching out a new creation. He would make it his greatest yet; he was sure of that. Something to take the fashion world by storm in a way he hadn’t since his youth – no, not even then! With such a high risk to using this power, he couldn’t let his work under its influence be anything less than a masterpiece.

His hand and pencil flew across the page, and the minutes with it. As time wore on, the design formed on the page, already the makings of something great.

And as time wore on, he started to feel the effects.

His heart raced; his breath became short. But even when dizziness set in, he pushed on.

 _Just a bit longer_ , he thought. He’d been able to go longer each time, he was building up a tolerance – and with his design flowing out so easily, he couldn’t give it up, not just yet…

His legs wobbled, but he poured his willpower into keeping his hand steady. The sketch was what mattered.

He heard the whir of machinery behind him as the elevator arrived.

“Gabriel!” he heard Emilie shout, and the pounding of her feet as she ran across the room towards him.

He just wanted to finish the design. That’s all. But he knew she wouldn’t let him, so he tried to get as much done as he could before she pulled the Miraculous off of him.

His legs gave out before either happened, and the pencil made a long, trailing mark off the edge of the paper as he fell.

Emilie caught him before he hit the floor.

“I told you – I told you not to touch that again…I told you to stop, we’d find more of them, I told you…” she said, crying as she lowered him to the ground. She began scrambling at his chest to grasp the pin and tear it away.

“This is the last time, Em, I promise…” Gabriel said. “I…promise.”

He’d said it before, far too many times. But as he felt himself slipping into unconsciousness, he knew that this time…

This time he spoke the truth.

“Promise me, Emilie,” he gasped out. “Promise me that you’ll find the other Miraculouses.” Even if this was the end for him, he didn’t want all that to go to waste, this task that had occupied the both of them for so long. She could go on without him. She could go on _for_ him.

“I will,” she said, and though the tears still fell from her eyes, he only heard determination in her words as his sight began to fail.

Just before he drifted off, he heard her say one last thing:

“I’ll use them to undo this.”


End file.
